PETA Settlement over Shelter Records

Follow-up from the Utah scandal in which shelter animals were being sold for research purposes. For the full story, go to NECN.com...

The Davis County Commission has agreed to pay the legal fees of an animal rights group after settling a lawsuit over animal shelter records.

The Standard-Examiner of Ogden said Wednesday that the county will pay $17,732 to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The money will cover a portion of PETA's legal fees for a lawsuit the group filed in January about animals that had been sold by the county shelter for research purposes.

PETA will have access to the requested records. The settlement provides limited protections for the county from further litigation.

In a statement provided to The Associated Press on Friday, PETA's Associate Director of Laboratory Investigations Justin Goodman said the group filed the lawsuit to gain access to intake and transfer records for approximately 100 cats and dogs that were sold for research. They also requested any records of people who gave explicit permission for the animals to be sold.

University of Utah Cited by Dept. of Agriculture

They received citations for animal welfare infractions, although apparently few of these infractions overlap with PETA claims from an undercover investigation.

The Salt Lake Tribune claims the infractions are only minor (interesting how different publications will provide different spins).

You decide.

From the Deseret News...

A kitten died from dehydration as a result of too much medication, individual primates were neglected for days at a time, mice and Guinea pig cages were found to be overcrowded, and calves may have been exposed to painful situations for too long, but University of Utah officials maintain that none of the most recent animal-testing violations, released Wednesday by the United States Department of Agriculture, were intentional.

Utah Ends Forced Pound Seizures

Now animal shelters have the right to refuse to release animals to the University of Utah for animal research. Previously, they were required to allow these "pound seizures." Davis County Animal Shelter, a key supplier to the University of Utah, has already ceased this practice.

Good. I wish the whole practice had been outlawed, but at least now shelters can respond to public pressure.

FBI Serves Search Warrant to ALF Supporter

From the Iowa City Press-Citizen...

The FBI served a search warrant Monday on a Salt Lake City home occupied by a supporter of the Animal Liberation Front.

Peter D. Young, 32, said at least eight FBI agents arrived about 11:30 a.m. The agents took computers, papers and other items it thought to be related to "animal enterprise terrorism," Young said, reciting language from the warrant.

"It's important to highlight the fact that I am being targeted just because I am a public figure on the subject" of animal rights, Young said in an interview Tuesday.

A federal judge in Iowa issued the warrant. Law enforcement there has a long-running investigation into animal releases at a University of Iowa laboratory.

PETA Leads Anti-Animal Research Protest at University of Utah

This protest comes after an undercover PETA investigator collected evidence of alleged animal abuse in the University laboratories.

PETA Busts University of Utah Research Lab

An undercover PETA investigator shot hours of footage of alleged mistreatment of animals. A University representative denied any mistreatment: "None of the things she alleges are substantive," said Tom Parks, the U.'s vice president for research. "It's a remarkably banal list of ordinary events in an animal-care facility."

Per the Salt Lake Tribune, these are some of the allegations....

*Failed to ensure that experiments minimized discomfort, distress and pain to the animals. In one case, up to 17 kittens from three litters died or were euthanized -- with no experiment data generated -- after injections to induce hydrocephalus.

» Discouraged the filing of health status reports to staff veterinarians -- "even when animals were clearly in distress.''

» Failed to provide adequate housing and management for animals that, in some instances, led to unnecessary stress, pain, injury or death.

» Failed to provide minimal enrichment for animals -- companionship for monkeys, balls for pigs, paper towels for mice -- to reduce emotional stress.

Certainly a case to follow.